Sanitary dispensing container for dining tableware



Nov. 27, 1928. 1,693,231

w. R. GRUBER SANITARY DISPENSING CONTAINER FOR DINING TABLE WARE Filed Feb. 5, 1927 vmwntoz Mg @W9 Patented Nov. 27, 1928.

PATENT OFFICE.

WILLAM R. GRUBER, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

' SANITARY DISPENSING CONTAINER FOR DINING TABLEWARE..

Application led February 5, 1927. Serial No. 166,157.

This invention relates to containers for dining table cutlery, such as knives, forks and spoons, and more particularly to types of containers in which the several articles .5 housed therein are readily accessible for service, the device being an improvement over my co-pending application entitled Sanitary eating implement dispensing device, filed March 12, 1926, Serial No. 94,159.

Devices for similar purposes, especially as used in restaurants and like public eating houses, are ordinarily of the tray variety into which the fingers of customers may readily enter, usually grasping the -knives by the blades, the forks by their tines andthe spoons by their bowls, such handling being highly unsanitary and offensively repugnant to' people of discrimination, for not only are theY articles selected touched, but those adjacent .20 are subjected to contact with unclean hands.

`Another type of container consists of a casing in which the implements are placed upright, with their handle portions at the bottom or lowermost part, compelling the i user to grasp the operative parts in the hands and further, the disposition of the knives and forks is such as to berdangerous to persons who inadvertently bringthe hand forcibly against the sharp projecting elements of the implements.

Having these disadvantages inview, it is one of the objects of the present inventionl to devise a hygienic container having compartments" for each of the various utensils in which they may be stored in considerable quantities in a sanitary manner and taken, one at a time, in a convenient and easy manner from a shelf-like extension onto which they are automatically and progressively delivered, the device being so arranged as to accompanying drawing, forming a material part of this d1sclosure, and in which Figure 1 is a perspective View of an elui The front edges 16 of the side walls of the casing 10 are scalloped so as to conform tothe undulating sections 17 of the front wall.

Alternate sections 17 are curved inwardly, asat 18, to present a smoothly rounded surface, while the lower edves 19 of the remaining sections are bent olbliquely outward to present ledges 20; the top section 17 connecting with a flat plate 21 which may be used for an advertising` display. .f

Secured intermediate the said walls of the casing are a plurality of vertical partition plates 22 curved forwardly'at their lower ends, meeting the ledges 19, to form com-y partments 23, 24, 25 and 26 in which may be respectively placed, tea spoons, table spoons, knives and forks.

By reason of the'fact that the tea spoons are shorter than the other utensils, the compartment 23 is reduced by the insertion therein of a pair of spacers 27 at its ends, to prevent the spoons from moving out of proper position. l j

Thus, the implements are placed in the compartments throughthe various top openings so that the lowermost will abut the ledge 19.

To remove the utensils, the "fingers may be inserted through the spaces between the lip 20 and the adjacent curved portion 18 of the section 17, the space beingof such size as to allow the removal of only one implement at a time. As the utensils are ta'ken out, the next succeeding one will fall by gravity into an accessible position.

It may thus be seen that a sanitary dis` penser has been disclosed capable of containing a very large quantity of table ware although it requires no more room than the' heretofore unsanitary trays.

In addition, its attractive appearance makes it a ne advertising medium.

The foregoing disclosure is to be regarded as descriptive and illustrative and not as reings arranged in tiered relation, a plurality `of vertlcal partltlons formlng compartments parallel with the upper front portion of the casing, said partitions being curved out- Wardly towards the front at their lower portions to register with the'transverse openings, and means aboveand below the openings at the front edges of the partitions to normally prevent the discharge of articles from said compartments.

2. A dispensing container comprising an upright casing having an undulated, forwardly projecting front wall in its main portion, each alternate undulation being open, a compartment for each type of article in said 3o casing, said compartments being open at their tops and curved at their lower endsto register with openings in the front wall of- 'the casing, the curved portions gradually in- 'ing arranged in parallel paired relation, a

plurality of article containing compartments in said casing, said compartments being open at the top `and `curved at their lower ends to 45 register with openings formed in the front wall of said casing, the curved portions being gradually expanded, a curved element on the lower edge of each closed undulation reaching into the space in the compartments, and 50 a lip at the lower end of each compartment tfo prevent the discharge of the articles thererom.

In testimony whereof I aiix my signature.

WILLIAM R. GRUBER. 

